Product Key

The Picture on the left shows What is called in the software industry the C.O.A. Certificate of Authenticity. This sticker indicates that the operating system on your computer whether it be Windows XP, Vista or 7, should be genuine and was legally purchase.

The sticker also carries the product key for the installed operating system which is a 25 character string of numbers and letters. This product key is required when installing the operating system and is unique to the computer.

I recommend that upon purchase, this number is recorded and stored in a safe place (email for example). the sticker will fade and degrade with time and in the event you need to reinstall your operating system your gonna need the product key. This product key is even more important than the disc it self. 

If you should lose that disc but still have your product key then any oem operating system disc corresponding to the product key can be installed using your COA and will be genuine.

Desktop should also carry this COA and should be looked for when purchasing a computer to ensure you are purchasing genuine software.
Usually on a laptop the sticker is placed on the underside, where as on desktop it maybe placed anywhere convenient to the manufacturer.

UPS Batteries

if you UPS battery is at an end you can get a replacement or have your ups repaired @
ACCUpower jamaica limited

Tell them Dean sent you ... u definately will not get a discount...hahahha..lol

A Computer is Not a fridge

I am sick of hearing people say how could my mother board burn or how could my pc power supply burn out ...
its on the same surge protector like the fridge and the fridge alright.

First of all your fridge uses AC (Alternating Current) current straight from the socket, your pc uses DC (Direct Current). This basically means that your computer and all electronic devices in general are more sensitive to variations / fluctuations in voltage. So surges or low voltage that may affect your electronic devices (LCD TV, GAMING CONSOLES, COMPUTERS) will not necessarily affect your microwave, washing machine,refrigerator.

Optimally you should run your PC on a UPS and for those UPS which have plugs which are not attached to the battery, ensure they have AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulation). A fancy way of saying that the UPS will maintain a Constant out put of say 110v regardless of the voltage coming from your supply company...(ours popdown). So if the supply is 90v or 135v the AVR feature will constantly output 110V.

A standalone voltage regulator or line conditioner is the next best thing to the ups. If you still insist on getting a surge protector for your 100k investment (LCD TV) then pay attention to the following.  Ensure that it says UL certified (L-N, L-G, N-G) and transient voltage. provides better protection against lightning strikes. The joule rating needs to be as much as the devices connected to it or higher. Basically do not plug a 400w device into 200w rated surge protector.

Response time is also very important . You could have the best features in a surge protector but if it has a slow response time it will not do you any good. If the surge protector is too slow in responding to a surge then the equipment will get damaged by the time the surge is able to activate its protection. so you want response time in nanoseconds the lower this number the better. (ANY THING LESS THAN ONE NANOSECOND IS GOOD).

Have fun. Stuff is expensive. Our power company ain't replacing shit.

Overheating Laptop

Chances are that if your laptop has started running very hotter than usual or starts shutting down after its been running for a while, its because its overheating. Main cause of which is usually a blocked heat sink vent :

This is a typical heat sink and fan assembly for a laptop.

                                                                               Further disassemble of the heat sink components shows that the vent is completely blocked by dust and debris.  The computer still works but was on a cooling pad to prevent it shutting off. So the cooling pad was substituting for the internal cooling mechanism.







A closer look clearly shows the blockage. This will eventually kill your laptop from overheating, whether or not your on a cooling pad. It is causing the internal components of  you laptop to run at elevated temperatures constantly which it was not design for.








Started clearing away the accumulated dust and debris from the heat sing fins.










after final cleanning you can now see the fins clearly
air can flow freely through the heat sink to cool the processor and the graphics chip. Can you see the difference.





So if your laptop starst running hotter that usually don't wait for it to die. Get it to a techriffic technician and have it checked before it dies.
Raspec.

Retrieve information from blackberry backup files ( *.ipd)

when you back up your blackberry to your computer, the files are saved as an *.ipd file and cannot be read by you.

But if you want to extract say a text message or address from your contacts or just be able to see what was backed up then you need a program called  MagicBerry. Its opensource so its free
and works like a charm. you can extract messages so you can print them or have a hard copy of your phone contacts.

Check it out.